Assessing patient perception of risk in ocular stem cell therapies

Peter Y Zhao; Sunjong Ji; Paula Anne Newman-Casey; Chris A Andrews; Angeline Lonardi; Olivia M Bennett; Duyhoang Q Dinh; Nidhi Talwar; David W Hutton; Sally Temple; Jeffrey H Stern; Rajesh C Rao

doi:10.1016/j.stemcr.2021.09.001

Assessing patient perception of risk in ocular stem cell therapies

Stem Cell Reports. 2021 Oct 12;16(10):2415-2421. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2021.09.001. Epub 2021 Sep 30.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, W.K. Kellogg Eye Center, University of Michigan, 1000 Wall Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USA.
² Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, W.K. Kellogg Eye Center, University of Michigan, 1000 Wall Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USA; Institute for Health Policy and Innovation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
³ Institute for Health Policy and Innovation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Department of Health Management and Policy, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
⁴ Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, W.K. Kellogg Eye Center, University of Michigan, 1000 Wall Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USA; Neural Stem Cell Institute, Rensselaer, NY, USA.
⁵ Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, W.K. Kellogg Eye Center, University of Michigan, 1000 Wall Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USA; Department of Pathology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Center of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Center for RNA Biomedicine, Univeristy of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Section of Ophthalmology, Surgery Service, VA Ann Arbor Health System, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. Electronic address: rajeshr@med.umich.edu.

Abstract

A wide variety of stem cell-derived therapies are under development for the treatment of retinal degeneration. In order to better understand patient perspectives about these therapies, we assessed risk tolerance using an in-person survey of 178 patients at an academic eye center. Risk of malignancy served as a hypothetical, readily understood, and serious adverse event to be considered in trade for potential visual improvement from a stem cell-derived treatment. The results indicate that patients were willing to trade visual improvement against a risk of malignancy that far exceeds actual risk. Two novel findings were that older patients and those with an intermediate level of visual loss were particularly risk tolerant. The quantitative survey results provide a step toward understanding patient perspectives that will, over the long term, guide the development of ocular stem cell-derived therapies.

Keywords: cancer; cell therapy; clinical research; conjoint analysis; macular degeneration; retina; stem cells; surgery; survey; tumor.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy / methods
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Patient Preference*
Patients
Perception*
Retinal Degeneration / therapy*
Risk Factors
Stem Cell Transplantation*
Surveys and Questionnaires

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding